Flatie Teferi, Gedif Teferi, Asres Kaleab, Gebre-Mariam Tsige
Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Addis Ababa University, PO Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2009 May 1;5:14. doi: 10.1186/1746-4269-5-14.
Traditional medicine (TM) has been a major source of health care in Ethiopia as in most developing countries around the world. This survey examined the extent and factors determining the use of TM and medicinal plants by Berta community. One thousand and two hundred households (HHs) and fourteen traditional healers were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires and six focused group discussions (FGDs) were conducted. The prevalence of the use of TM in the two weeks recall period was 4.6%. The HH economic status was found to have a significant effect while the educational level and age of the patients have no effect either on the care seeking behavior or choice of care. Taking no action about a given health problem and using TM are common in females with low-income HHs. Forty plant species belonging to 23 families were reported, each with local names, methods of preparation and parts used. This study indicates that although the proportion of the population that uses TM may be small it is still an important component of the public health care in the study community as complementary and alternative medicine.
与世界上大多数发展中国家一样，传统医学在埃塞俄比亚一直是医疗保健的主要来源。本次调查研究了贝尔塔社区使用传统医学和药用植物的程度及相关因素。通过半结构化问卷对1200户家庭和14名传统治疗师进行了访谈，并开展了6次焦点小组讨论。在两周回忆期内使用传统医学的患病率为4.6%。研究发现，家庭经济状况有显著影响，而患者的教育水平和年龄对就医行为或医疗选择均无影响。对于特定的健康问题不采取任何行动以及使用传统医学在低收入家庭的女性中很常见。报告了属于23个科的40种植物，每种都有当地名称、制备方法和使用部位。这项研究表明，尽管使用传统医学的人口比例可能较小，但作为补充和替代医学，它仍是研究社区公共卫生保健的重要组成部分。
